You've been given the job of raising funds for an important cause. How can you push yourself to fulfill that goal? Making a fundraising thermometer provides you with a picture to help you monitor your progress, and a visual image that motivates you to achieve that goal.

We've all seen them. Alongside the road in a community looking to save up to fund the annual 4th of July fireworks show. Or at a high school showing how close the football team is to getting new uniforms. Some people create these tools measure an individual goal. How much more until I have enough money to pay for my senior trip? ... To buy Grandma's Christmas present? ... For my annual donation to the charity I care about?

Why do they work? Recall when you were a kid. You'd see something at the store you really wanted. Maybe it was a fancy new outfit, or as an older kid, maybe you decided you wanted a car. When you asked your parents to buy it, they may have told you to save your money. They knew that by pushing you to save your money, you'd bust your tail and put away all the money you could.

The motivation we learned when we were young also underlies a fundraising thermometer. The picture, with a goal at one end and metered steps along the way, helps keep us on track to realize our goal. After we see that picture, we want to see it colored-in. We want to complete it and achieve what we've put our mind to. And the incremental progress pushes us to make more incremental progress - and by and by we meet our goal.

This urge to meet our goals increases as we make that progress. The closer we get to the goal, the more we want to attain it.

If you're going to produce one at home, it's actually easy. Yes, it does involve some drawing, but it's fairly easy drawing. First, acquire some poster board or some butcher's paper. Laying out the paper in a portrait format, draw a tall, thin rectangle. Towards the top end of the rectangle, turn that straight end into a rounded end (now the top looks like a hot dog). On the bottom end (the straight end) you draw a large circle. Now you've got the basic thermometer shape. In the body, make marks showing the increments you'll use to measure your progress. To make use of your drawing, get yourself a red marker and color in when you make progress towards your goal. You know you're done when it's all red (or better, when you've beat your goal and the red is shooting out of the top).

Some are afraid of drawing their own, so they can purchase one available at a store. Some companies are offering pre-drawn posters as well as white board-style fundraising thermometers which you can use repeatedly. Whatever one you utilize - your own drawing or one from the store - you'll be on your way to raising money!